COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Officials on Thursday warned to fire any employee of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) found to be using illegal drugs.
Regional Executive Secretary Laisa Alamia, in an emailed statement, said they may conduct a random drug testing, if existing civil service laws will allow, ARMM employees.
Operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency arrested Wednesday Frederick Dedicatoria, 48, a senior staff of the Office of the Regional Governor (ORG) for keeping shabu in his rented apartment at Malagapas District in Cotabato City.
Dedicatoria, a budget management officer of ORG, is now detained at the PDEA-ARMM facility, awaiting prosecution.
Alamia said ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman has urged the PDEA to prosecute Dedicatoria to the fullest extent of law.
Alamia said the ORG’s intelligence and security director, Abdulrashid Ladayo Jr., has directed to probe ARMM employees suspected of either being drug dependents or are engaged in trafficking of narcotics. - John Unson